Guages Don't work

[Bloodline]

Well after about a month of dealing, I finally got my El camino - 1980. Now, to start dealing with some of the problems. None of the factory guages work with the exception of the fuel guage and the speedo which does not record accurate speed - reads to high. The motor and tranny was converted from the factory equipment to a 396 cu.in. along with( I believe) a 350 transmission. Could it be that the guages are simply not hooked up? wiring harness changed? or do I need to replace the factory guages with after market guages? I have not really investigated the problem yet as I just picked up the Elky last evening. Grate to be an owner and any help would be much appreciated.

[John Harris]

Welcome to the club, Robert. And welcome to the world of frustrating electrical problems! These are fairly common on 5th generation Elky's, and instrument clusters are right up there!

A wealth of info has been posted previously by our members and is here for you to read. Just click on "forums" at the top of our home page, and it will take you to past postings by folks who have solved similar problems. Go down to "Chassis and Body" and then find the sub-group "electrical". Find the several threads that mention guages and/cluster in the title and read on until you find the answers you need.

After you have exhausted this method, feel free to ask specific new questions about your problem and what you are doing. But I'm sure you'll find everything you are looking for.

While you are at it, remember the famous words of our 5th Generation Moderator, Ernie G.: "Search is your friend." Again, welcome!

[John_Muha]

Since the fuel gage works and the engine was swapped out:
Guessing that the temp and oil senders, on the 350 engine are wrong. The fuel gage wouldn't be affected by the engine swap but the other 2 gages would. Chances are that the 350 engine contains idiot light senders and not gage senders.
Try taking the wire off the oil sender and grounding it (Key on). See if the oil gage starts moving around.

[greywolf]

Also in my car gage problems were caused by the connector that plugs into the back of the instrument cluster. When you pull the cluster you'll see how the connector is just copper tabs that ride on uninsulated tabs on the printed circuit. A shot of electrical contact cleaner (from Radio Shack) and gentle rub with scotch brite got the gages working fine.

As long as you have the instrument cluster out, check out the other threads here about improving the lighting on the gages -- paint the back of the black face panel with silver or white paint.

And welcome to the club...